Topic: Breezeblox (Wii U) Review

[Halbred]

Spacial reasoning abound in this block-flopping puzzler.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/39643/breezeblox-wii-u-review

I love EDGE, so I was mildly excited by the prospect of Breezeblox, which looks a whole lot like it. Once I started this new Wii U game up, however, I found that it’s not so much a timed platformer maze as a straight puzzle game, but that’s fine. It’s fun, and that’s what matters.

Breezeblox features a bright, friendly color palate, and gameplay that’s simple but mentally challenging. You’re in control of 2x2x1 square of cubes. Your goal is to guide the square from the entrance (green) to the exit (red) by manipulating it from place to place. If, at any point, a piece of the square goes off the beaten path, you must restart. This leads to some inventive path-finding, as you’re controlling a square that can move edge-to-face, face-to-edge, or edge-to-edge. Even the most seemingly straightforward paths require some degree of rambling experimentation.

The game contains 150 puzzles divided into three chapters of differing difficulty. Thankfully, there is no timer and no consequence for “dying,” so there’s never any pressure to solve these puzzles quickly. Unfortunately, although you can choose between any of the three chapters at will, you must solve each of the 50 puzzles within in sequence. This can be a problem when you’re up against a wall in one puzzle from all three chapters, but I’ve found that switching the game off and coming back the next day helps.Puzzle designs eventually incorporate falling floors, switches, and teleporters—and this means late-game puzzles can be intense and intimidating! I also discovered that Breezeblox is a good couch multiplayer game, passing the GamePad from person to person until a puzzle is solved.

Complaints? Not many: I’d like to have seen the aesthetic change up between chapters, and online leaderboards might give the game some long-term appeal for players looking to beat each other’s times. But for what it is, Breezeblox is a fun little game and definitely worth a shot for anybody who likes special reasoning puzzles.